Family Puzzled By Fatal Fall

Steelworker Was Known For Sure-footedness

BURLINGTON — The family of a Bristol man who plunged to his death from a cliff above a waterfall Saturday night struggled Monday to understand how someone they knew as sure-footed could slip and fall.

Richard ``Rick'' Morrill, 40, worked installing steel beams on construction sites for nearly all his adult life, his siblings and friends said. He was accustomed to walking high in the air on steel beams -- even in the rain, said his sister, Donna Zagryn of Plantsville.

He'd gone out drinking at Tracy's Pub in Bristol just before 7 p.m., said his roommate, Donna MacAllister. And MacAllister said she found a beer bottle and a pack of his cigarettes near the cliff where he'd fallen -- apparently around 8 p.m.

But MacAllister and Zagryn said they don't think the alcohol would have thrown Morrill so off balance that he would fall. ``I've seen my brother completely inebriated and he's never taken a fall,'' Zagryn said. ``Granted, the weather was not good, the rocks were slippery and he might have been a little inebriated, but there's still questions,'' Zagryn said.

Police said they are investigating the incident -- including the woman who was with Morrill when he fell and who flagged down a motorist on Hotchkiss Road to get rescuers. The investigation is standard procedure, said Resident Trooper Jeff Covello.

``We do a background check on all participants. We'll be looking at where they were coming from, what they were doing,'' Covello said. ``No foul play is suspected.''

Morrill's siblings said they were frustrated by their attempts to get information from state police, who told them they must wait until the officer investigating the incident returns to work Wednesday. ``Nobody wanted to deal with my questions,'' Zagryn said.

State Police Sgt. Paul Vance said the investigating officer, who is not working until Wednesday, has the file on the case.

The area around the waterfalls has long been a popular spot for adventurous swimmers. Below the waterfalls, there is a deep pool that people like to dive into from a cliff. Over the years, firefighters have rescued many divers who injured themselves by hitting the water wrong or by grazing the rocks, said Mike Boucher, rescue captain of the Burlington Fire Department.

Police will increase their efforts to arrest people who trespass at the property around Bunnell Brook. Swimmers sometimes tear down the no-trespassing signs, making it difficult to make charges stick, Covello said.

So Covello said he plans to work with the property owner, New Britain Water Co., to make sure signs are difficult to tear down.

``Once it's clearly posted, there's not much of an argument when you get to court,'' Covello said.

Morrill, like many others, had visited the waterfalls in the past to swim. Michelle Morin of Winsted, who is engaged to Morrill's brother Kevin, recalled one visit. ``One time, for fun, me and his brother and him went and jumped off the cliff. It was scary -- it's quite a drop. It's very dangerous. And at night it's very dangerous,'' Morin said.

As the reality of Morrill's death sank in, his friends and family remembered him fondly. ``He was a loving man,'' MacAllister said. Before he left to go out for a drink, she said, he promised MacAllister's 11- year-old daughter he'd be home soon because he knew she was afraid of thunderstorms, MacAllister said.

``He loved children,'' Morin said, adding that although Morrill didn't have any, he hoped to have kids one day. And he loved music, playing the guitar and writing poetry, she said.